encourage you to feel confident in raising serious concerns and to question and act upon concerns about practice;
provide avenues for you to raise those concerns and receive feedback on any action taken;
ensure that you receive a response to your concerns and that you are aware of how to pursue them if you are not satisfied; and
reassure you that you will be protected from possible reprisals or victimisation if you have a reasonable belief in the substance of your disclosure and have acted in good faith.
There are existing procedures in place to enable you to lodge a grievance relating to your own employment. The Whistle-blowing Policy is intended to cover major concerns that fall outside the scope of other procedures. These include:
conduct which is an offence or a breach of law;
disclosures related to miscarriages of justice;
health and safety risks, including risks to the public as well as other officers;
damage to the environment;
a misuse of Combined Authority or other public money;
possible fraud and corruption and other unethical conduct.
Thus, any serious concerns that you have about any aspect of service provision or the conduct of officers or Members of the Combined Authority or others acting on behalf of the Combined Authority can be reported under this Whistle-blowing Policy. This may be about something that:
makes you feel uncomfortable in terms of known standards, your experience, or the standards to which you believe the Combined Authority subscribes; or
is against the Combined Authority’s Constitution or policies; or
falls below established standards of practice; or
amounts to improper conduct.
This policy does not replace the Combined Authority’s Anti-Fraud and Corruption Policy, but rather complements it.
